MONTREAL — The World Junior Hockey Championship hasn’t started yet, but the excited pre-tournament chatter is well underway on Twitter.

“Thank god I’m sick today ...#PraiseTheLord,” one fan tweeted on Thursday morning when Canada played a pre-competition game against Finland.

“Woke up at 4:01 a.m. today during a hockey-related dream,” tweeted another last week. “I swear the hockey gods are prepping me for the world juniors.”

The International Ice Hockey Federation’s annual championship kicks off on Boxing Day in Ufa, Russia. Local fans who want to watch Team Canada’s games live might need to start going to bed at 8 p.m.

Canada’s first game on Wednesday against Germany starts at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time, as do its next two games against Slovakia and the United States. Their last game in the round-robin portion of the tournament is against Russia on Dec. 31 at 9 a.m. Playoff and medal round games are scheduled for 4 and 8 a.m. ET.

If you don’t trust your alarm clock, Molson Canadian is offering free wake-up calls for games from TSN SportsCentre hosts that people can sign up for online.

TSN is the host broadcaster for the first time for an event in Russia. The network has a crew of 50 people in Ufa for the tournament and about another 50 working on the broadcasts in Toronto, including host James Duthie.

For Duthie, the 11-hour time difference means he’ll have to be at the studio for about 2 a.m. before they go to air at 4 a.m.

When he worked as a news reporter, Duthie once did a feature series on overnight life “and it messed me up for about six months,” he laughed. “So I’m a little bit concerned selfishly about my own well-being because I’m not very good at this kind of thing, adjusting to time changes.

“For viewers, I honestly think we have enough diehards in this country that you will get people that — as the (TSN) promotional campaign goes — stay up late in the west and get up early in the east.

“I certainly hear that from a lot of people on Twitter that they’re going to do it. But I think it’s fair to say that it’s going to be one of the most PVR-ed sports events probably in Canadian history.”

If you tape the games on a personal video recorder, Duthie has some advice for you.

“If you PVR the game, and please put this in all caps,” he laughed, “ ... do not go on Twitter because it is our job as broadcasters to tweet things as the game is happening.”

TSN plans to re-broadcast each of Team Canada’s games at noon and 7:30 p.m.

Asked about gold-medal predictions last Thursday after Canada’s loss to Finland in an exhibition game, Duthie said: “I still think this Canadian team will come together and win.

“I think that they have benefitted most from this (NHL) lockout. If you go through the rosters, I think Canada has seven guys maybe or so that should be in the NHL this year — or should/could be — and that’s more than any of the other teams.”

That should be enough, Duthie added. “But there are so many variables in this tournament that I would never make a declaration that Canada is a heavy favourite. I don’t think anybody ever is.

“Sweden, Canada, U.S., Russia — you can pretty much pencil those four in every year,” he said.

Will you wake up early? On The Gazette’s hockeyinsideout.com website, we asked: Will you get up to watch Team Canada’s 4:30 a.m. ET games live at the world junior championship in Russia? As of Sunday afternoon, 69 per cent of respondents said no.

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